


All In

by coolbyrne



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/pseuds/coolbyrne
Summary: It's the usual poker night, but with an unusual wager. Slibbs
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 17
Kudos: 117





	All In

"All in."

"That's a desperate bluff," Grace said from behind her cards while throwing in enough chips to match.

"He's a desperate man," Leon said, tilting his head towards Fornell's chip stack. "I'm more concerned about those two." He laid his cards face down. "I fold."

Grace's eyes followed Leon's to a smiling Jack and a statue called 'Gibbs'. "He really doesn't blink, does he?"

Fornell tossed his hands into the air. "Are we gonna play or analyze people all night?"

Jack took a slow pull from her beer. "Oh, we're going to play." She pushed a stack that matched Fornell's in size into the middle of the table.

"Uh-oh," Grace said. "I'm starting to think I made a terrible mistake."

As she took another drink, she pointed the bottle at Gibbs. "Your move, Cowboy."

Placing his cards neatly in a pile in front of him, he slowly pushed out his 3 stacks of chips forward. "All in."

Both Grace and Fornell groaned and Vance shrugged knowingly. "Goddamn it, Popeye!" Grace exclaimed. "Fine. Have it." The rest of her chips went into the center. 

Jack sat back, mirroring Gibbs' pose, her cards resting on the table, face down. Squinting, she counted the chips in his stacks, then looked at hers. She had had a surprisingly good night at the table, and if she folded now, she'd still end up with more than anyone else at the table, save for Gibbs. "I'll tell you what," she wagered. "I'll see your all-in and put the rest of my chips in on one condition- you show me what's in the garage."

A small grin peeked out from his stoic expression though attention went to Fornell, who asked in amazement, "You haven't seen what's in the garage?" The game temporarily forgotten, he sat back. "Jack, what's taken you so long?"

Grace pressed her lips together, holding back her retort and her reaction when Jack's foot met her shin. 

Fornell raised an eyebrow but continued, "Not surprisingly, it's a relic and it's a handful, but it's got one hell of a thrust."

Looking across the table, Grace dead-panned, "We _are_ talking about some kind of car, right?"

"God, I hope so," Leon replied. 

Tobias fake-laughed. "So funny. Leon, I know you've seen it." Everyone held back their laugh. "The car! Jesus, you people."

Jack turned to Gibbs. "So there _is_ something in your garage."

"Bet it doesn't get out much, though," Grace snarked.

Leon held up his hands, palms facing the table. "I was _not_ going to say anything."

Gibbs, ignoring the banter between his friends, looked right at Jack. "You think you can handle it, Sloane?"

The entire table groaned but Jack smirked. "I'll be gentle."

"Just say 'yes', for God's sake," Grace said, slapping Gibbs with the back of her hand. "I wanna see the cards."

He stared into Jack's eyes, searching for the flinch, but he saw none. Weighing his pride against the silver lining if he lost, he nodded. "Okay. Let's see what you got." He turned his cards over and tilted his head at her.

Grace, Leon and Tobias all leaned forward as one and they groaned again.

"Full house, Kings over Aces, Popeye? Really?"

He held Jack's gaze, and when her eyes flicked down to the table, he began to reach for the winnings. Her hand came out to stop him.

"Full house, huh?" With her free hand, she reached for the glasses that were sitting between them and put them on. "King of Clubs, King of Spades, King of Hearts. I wonder where the King of Diamonds is?" Her eyes, playful and teasing, came up to meet his, and he could only shake his head while he waited for the other shoe to drop. "Oh, look! He's at a family reunion." Triumphantly, she fanned out her five cards.

Grace clapped her hands and whooped. "Royal Flush! Tell me someone got a picture of that face!" She pointed at Gibbs and laughed, ignoring his narrowed eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me," Fornell said, shaking his head in admiration.

Vance, too, shook his head. "And that's why I folded. Her luck's been too good tonight."

Tobias couldn't resist. "Oh, I'm betting someone's getting even luckier." 

"Probably the only bet you're going to win tonight." Grace said it to Fornell but winked at Gibbs who was still giving her the glare. 

Leon's eyebrows touched his hairline. "And that's my cue." He gestured to his chips. "Add it to my ledger." Standing, he looked around the table, opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it. "See some of you on Monday."

Grace stood and kissed his cheek. "Next month." To Fornell, she said, "Let's go, All-In. The Confalone train is about to leave the station."

Gibbs dryly asked, "You don't want to see what I have in my garage, Grace?"

Jack nearly burst out laughing, both at the question and her expression. 

Tapping his cheek lightly, Grace said, "Oh, sweetie, that train was never _at_ the station."

He pretended to hustle them out of the room and gave no goodbyes when he slammed the door behind them. Returning to the kitchen table, he saw Jack had already begun cleaning up. The domesticity of the action, the way she knew where everything went and looked like she belonged while doing it made certain words catch in his throat. Fortunately, she was the one to speak first.

"You're a good sport," she said, and the praise came with a smile he returned with an eye roll that wasn't nearly as dismissive as he pretended.

"You didn't have to do that," he said, gesturing to the table with a jerk of his chin.

She nodded. "I know."

"Got some laundry that needs ironin'."

She tossed a poker chip at him. "Ass."

"Careful, that's Leon's. He keeps his own ledger."

She hummed knowingly. As she collected the beer bottles and brought them into the kitchen, he found the box that held all the winnings, scooped them up and put them in their respective bags. At the end of the year, the chips would be exchanged for money. She came in with a cloth and he patted the bottom of her bag. 

"I need to pay more attention."

Offering a grin and a wink, she said, "I'm learning from the best." With the table wiped down and the cards and chips put away for another month, she folded the cloth as she asked, "Another beer?"

Again, the casualness caught him off-guard, like she had been doing this for years, and he wondered how much more time he would waste before he turned an image into a reality. 

"Sure."

She turned behind her and reached into the fridge, twisted the cap and handed the bottle to him.

"You're not havin' one?" he asked.

"No. I had my limit an hour ago. Still have to drive home." She slipped her hands into her back pockets and followed him into the living room.

"You can stay, ya know? It's gonna be late when we get back."

"Get back? Where are we going?" 

Despite him not giving her any idea, he grinned that she followed him without question. He grabbed a set of keys off a hook near the door, opened it and held out his arm to guide her out of the house. She waited for him on the porch even though it was clear she had a pretty good idea where he was going. She watched him take a long pull from his bottle, his Adam's apple bobbing three times, and when he lowered the bottle, he kept his eyes closed, feeling the night air on his face. Then he took the steps down to the driveway and went for the garage. He groaned when he bent to put the key in the handle lock, and just before he turned it to lift the heavy door, he glanced up. Her expression was everything- open, giddy and beatific, and he wondered what had taken him so long. 

"Close your eyes until I tell ya to open them."

She rocked on her heels in delight but did as he asked. The door wheels rolled back on their tracks and he let go once it was fully raised. Five steps into the dark garage led him to the light switch and he flicked on the fluorescent light that hung from the middle of the room. 

"Okay. Open 'em."

It took her eyes a second to adjust, but when they did, her mouth dropped and her hands came up to cover it. She slowly approached it like it was a timid animal, her steps slow and quiet. Her eyes went to his, then back to the car. Wordlessly, she began a slow walk around the yellow and black classic, running her fingertips over the curves and edges, a dreamy sigh the only sound escaping her lips. There was a seductive quality to her attention that made his pants feel tight and sparked a jealousy over an inanimate object. As fate would have it, she ended up right in front of him, back to him, facing the car.

He was close enough to see her close her eyes. "Tell me. I want to know all about it."

His chuckle was a burr gone soft from the beer and her nearness. "1971 Dodge Challenger R/T," he said, watching the goosebumps begin to form along the expanse of her neck exposed by her ponytail. "Dodge only made 26,299 that year. Only 70 came with the 426 Hemi." She was nearly purring. He bent closer, his lips against her ear. "4-speed manual transmission. Goodyear F60-15 wheels with Kelsey Hayes hubcaps."

She leaned back into him, her shoulders fitting flush against his chest. "Top speed?"

"117. 0 to 60 in 5.4." 

Her soft, approving moan hit him right in the gut. And a little below. It would only take the barest movement to bridge the space between her neck and his lips. He could almost taste her skin. Drawing on whatever was left of the Marine discipline she wasn't shredding like rice paper, he put the bottle where his mouth wanted to be and she jumped at the coolness.

"Careful, Sloane, your engine's overheating." Her laughter made short work of the rest of the discipline, and his fight-or-flight kicked in, choosing the latter. Stepping back, he used the pretense of holding out the keys to cover his need to break away from her pull. "You drive stick?"

Her eyes widened, reflecting amber under the garage light. "Me? Hell yeah, I do." He placed the keys in her hand and began to make his way around to the passenger side. "You mean it?"

He held up his beer bottle as evidence, downed it in one long drink, and shrugged. "I can't drive. Been drinkin'."

She grinned as she got in the bucket seat and gripped the steering wheel. 

"Reach under to adjust the seat." 

He watched her pull it up to her liking while he clicked in his seat belt. Happy with the distance, she did the same and sat back. 

"So where are we going, Cowboy?"

He shrugged. "You're drivin',"

She seemed to contemplate the possibilities, then said, "How about Hains Point?" 

"You wanna make out, Jack?"

Her lips twitched, but she took his question as a deflection and backtracked. "Or we could go to the diner. Get a nice cup of coffee."

It was just like her to cover for him, and this time was no different. But he decided it should be.

"Why don't we get the coffee then go to Hains Point?"

Her eyebrows lifted. "Really?"

"You can explain it to Leon if we get busted."

She turned the ignition and the car roared to life. He pretended to scowl when she left a trail of rubber on the concrete.

…..

-end


End file.
